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continuation of our story -

I felt that Jaziret and Santini (the horse I was bringing for Leonard )were
as ready as possible for this ride. I had trained them both diligently (had
help from my friend Carol Brand with Santini) and felt they were well
conditioned, but not over-trained. This is a fine balance to maintain. Both
had good body condition, and seemed in perfect health. I padded them both
(fronts) for the rocks which I knew were part of this trail, and their feet
were in good shape.

We (John, Carol and I) arrived at the camp Monday afternoon - most of the
Mountain squad were already there, and we found a nice spot to park on the
edge of camp, as quiet and peaceful as possible. Monday was hot and dry,
Tuesday the rain started. The rain was predicted so it was no surprise, but
after a hot desert summer it was awfully dreary. It drizzled pretty much all
week. There was lots of 'stuff' to do - meetings, etc - but also a fair
amount of hanging around. Carol and I took the horses out Tuesday and
Wednesday for about 10 miles each day - pre-riding loop 1. We were expecting
to ride most of it in the dark (pre-dawn start) so I wanted to make sure the
horses were familiar with it. We had planned to ride the last loop on
Thursday, but there was too much to do - opening ceremonies, meetings, etc
etc etc....  I have to say that the pre-ride week makes these big events
much more difficult. The horses have to stand around too much, feed/routine
is disturbed, and even for the riders it's a distraction from the purpose of
being there (in my mind) .

Leonard and Carol Gatelier (both from Belgium) arrived Thursday morning,
laden with good cheer and  some special wines and cheeses from Belgium. Rick
Brand arrived Thursday evening - Rick and Carol were to crew for me, Carol G
would crew for Leonard, and John would do what he could - his main job was
to do the ride stats/results for the ride. Thursday and Friday were a flurry
of visiting, meetings, ceremony, adjusting saddles (thankyou Reactor Panel
and Elyse Geskie!) packing crew bags... and just counting the minutes till
the ride started - finally!

I woke up very early Saturday morning -before the alarm - totally wide awake
(this is usually a challenge for me). So ready to ride!! We got tacked up,
warmed up and hit the trail just as a glimmer of light was appearing. (ride
management moved the start back one hour to allow more light for the first
loop - good choice). We piled onto the trail in the middle of the pack, had
hoped to be further up front, but couldn't get past the crowds. The first 10
miles were actually pretty pleasant - I was expecting much more lunacy from
Jaziret and Santini - it was fairly open road, some trail, and a nice pace.
When we hit the single track trail at around 11 miles, I got my crazy horse
back. He was charging down the trails, very difficult to control. Poor
Leonard and Teenie were behind me and Santini was even more wound up. At the
first vet check both horses pulsed down quickly and went to the vet. Santini
started shaking though, and no amount of blanketing helped. Leonard spent a
long time with the vets, we were afraid he wouldn't pass - but eventually
they let him continue. All of his parameters were fine and they figured he
was just over-excited. Poor Teenie was so wound up, I'd never seen him like
this. I finally had Leo walk him around and that seemed to help the shaking.

We left for the next loop (another 20 miles) and did pretty well, but when
we hit the single track again Leo decided to back off and let us go ahead,
he was still unable to manage Teenie safely on the trail. Jaziret was very
strong and fast and pulling constantly, but it felt marginally safe so I let
him do his thing. He was actually better without Santini. We got to the next
hold, pulsed down well, and vetted ok. Leo was about 15 minutes behind,
Santini was still wound up, still shaking at the vet check - but he passed.

The next loop was 21 miles - this is the loop that resulted in most of the
pulls. It was good footing, gorgeous wooded trails and roads, and fast....
very fast. Some glorious trotting and cantering, strong and happy horse. We
pulsed down pretty quickly but at the vet check Jaziret was more tired (and
hot?)- still well hydrated, still good impulsion, but not quite as solid at
the trot and his CRI was up - 56/64 - we went back for the hold and kept him
in the shade, with cool water often. At the exit check (10 minutes before
departure - mandatory for all horses at this vet check) he looked much
better - 52/52 and a stronger trot. Teenie and Leo came in about 30 minutes
behind us - doing better this time. They vetted through well, Teenie was a
little dehydrated but otherwise ok.

The next loop was a 13 mile loop into the open woods - a fair amount of
climbing and much hotter - Jaziret kept a decent pace but he finally stopped
pulling to go faster. I didn't push him, just let him work the trail at the
pace he chose. We got back to the King Ranch (gorgeous place!) and vetted
through fine. Teenie and Leo were still 30 minutes behind us.

We now had an 11 mile loop back to camp. A fair amount of climbing, and
still pretty hot. We were chugging along and then around 3 miles from camp
Jaziret just stopped. He's never done that before, scared me to death! I got
off, checked his pulse, his eye, tried to figure out what made him stop.
Heat? Pain? Exhaustion? waiting for Teenie? At this point I was pretty
panicked... he might really be in trouble, I had no idea. So, I led him the
3 miles back to camp - pretty much figuring the ride was over, just didn't
want to hurt the horse. He was lunging at grass along the trail all the way
back, I figured this was a good sign. Plus he seemed bright and alert...

We got to the camp just as the first riders were finishing! I led Jaziret
trotting across the finish line and asked all the spectators to cheer for
us, just to make us feel better... and it did :) I led him over to the
crewing area, his pulse was 52... and he was starving. A good sign - we went
to the vets and he looked great. I have no idea what he wanted (or didn't
want) back there on the trail, I suppose I could have just led him a bit,
then continued on. We lost close to an hour on that loop - but I know that
if I am ever in doubt I will err on the side of the horse. It just plain
isn't worth it to make a mistake that will harm the horse.

The last hold was short and we were READY for the final 13 miles. I
absolutely love riding in the dark and Jaziret was rested from his long
walk, and ate well at the hold. Carol taped a couple glowsticks to his
breatcollar and John put the Petzel light on my helmet (which I did not turn
on :) and away we went. It was wonderful - the best part of the entire day
for me - total abandon, flying down the trails in the dark, totally trusting
my horse. Finally giving up control...
We did have one bad moment out there - I thought we were lost because all of
a sudden there weren't any glosticks - so we went back and forth several
times, and finally a couple riders came along and assured me that this was
the right trail. Sure enough, eventually I saw another glostick. Lost
another 15 minutes there due to DIMR - but on we went, and we flew back to
camp.

Jaziret vetted in at 48, looking very fresh and my disappointment over the
day (it wasn't the perfect ride) faded when I saw him looking so terrific at
the trot. What a nice horse - and how thankful we should all be for these
wonderful beasts!  Leonard and Santini finished around 40 minutes after us.
Leo hates to ride in the dark, and thankfully he had a couple brave women to
bring him home.

I can't give enough thanks to Rick and Carol Brand who crewed for us all
day. They did double duty also helping Leo and Teenie - and I think they
worked harder than any of the riders. Hauling gear to 2 different out-vet
checks and then back to camp. Setting up, a flurry of activity, hurry hurry,
and then pack and go again. Thank you!! And John was there - roving, helping
everywhere, relieved to not be stuck crewing all day, but he probably worked
harder doing 10 other jobs at once.

And I enjoyed the other Mountain Zone folks - some brilliant rides - Suzie
Hayes and Trigger, and young (15!) Alex Luck and her little Mommesin had
terrific rides, and along with Bev Gray brought the Mountain Zone a silver
medal. Plus the hard working Chef's and crew - thanks to all.

and that's my PanAm story...

Steph


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